Various forms of classified-type advertising have existed for many years. According to one traditional approach, an individual or organization interested in advertising an item or service for sale, or in advertising a need for a particular item or service, pays a nominal fee to a print-based advertising service, such as a local newspaper, to run a simple print advertisement detailing the item or service for sale or the item or service desired. Traditionally, this simple print advertisement is then printed by the local newspaper in a section of the newspaper where similar advertisements are grouped into pre-defined categories so as to be readily navigable by readers of the newspaper.
Although these simple print-based advertisements, commonly referred to as “classified advertisements” (or simply “classifieds”, for short), provide individuals and organizations with the ability to advertise items, services, announcements or needs to a pre-defined subset of the general public for a relatively nominal fee, they suffer from a number of limitations.
For example, in the case of a classified advertisement placed in a local newspaper, the number of people that might potentially be exposed to the advertisement is limited to the readership of the local newspaper. When greater exposure is desired, an individual's or organization's only traditional alternative has been to place the classified advertisement in a newspaper having a larger readership, such as a general circulation or regional newspaper. However, regardless of the circulation size of the newspaper, the exposure or reach of the classified advertisement is limited to the readership of the newspaper, be it large or small.
The rigid exposure and reach limitations of traditional print-based classified advertisements are especially bothersome when an individual or organization is interested in selling an item that is difficult or costly to ship, is of too low a value to justify the travel time potential buyers must expend in evaluating the item for sale, or is better targeted to a specific subset of the general population, such as a community, neighborhood, workplace or other affinity group. These exposure and reach limitations may also prove to be time and price prohibitive, since potential buyers of items and services may not have the patience to wade through an entire city's list of classified advertisements when they are only interested in items or services offered within their local community or neighborhood.
For example, an individual interested in selling a used children's bicycle for $20 is unlikely to place a classified ad in a major city newspaper listing this item due to the low value of the item relative to the cost of the ad and the low probability that a potential buyer would be willing to drive across a big city to examine and/or purchase this low-cost item. Items such as a used children's bicycle are more appropriately offered for sale within a more localized community, neighborhood or affinity group. Conventional print-based classified advertising systems, however, fail to serve as an effective or efficient system or method for advertising such items.
In recent years, with the increased popularity of the Internet, various attempts have been made at modifying traditional print-based classified advertising models to take advantage of the ease-of-use, accessibility and exposure afforded by the Internet. According to one conventional approach, an online classified provider allows users to create online classified postings containing a description of the items or services they wish to buy or sell, usually in consideration for a nominal fee. These classified postings are then published by the online classified provider on a centralized public website for viewing by members of the general public via the Internet.
Typically, when creating these online classified postings, users are asked to select a pre-defined category or subcategory under which the user desires the posting to be classified. These categories and subcategories are defined by system administrators of the online classified system and are usually based on a conventional taxonomy classification system. For example, an individual interested in selling a portable notebook computer might create an online classified posting detailing the specifics of the computer for sale, such as the speed of the computer's processor, the size of its hard drive and the asking price. In this situation, the user might decide to have this post classified under the administrator-defined category of “Computers”, or further classified under the administrator-defined subcategory of “Computers—Laptops”.
However, because online classified postings are, according to this conventional approach, classified by specific administrator-defined categories and subcategories irrespective of their geographic location, potential buyers using this online classified system may only locate items or services relevant to their needs by browsing through or searching within these administrator-defined categories and subcategories. Thus, conventional online classified systems fail to serve as an efficient or effective system for buying or selling items or services that are more appropriately exchanged within a localized geographic region, such as items that are difficult or costly to ship or are of too low a value to justify the travel costs associated with obtaining the item. Conventional online classified systems additionally fail to provide an effective system and method for buying or selling items or services that do not fall squarely within the administrator-defined categories and subcategories.
For example, an individual interested in selling a shovel would be unlikely to purchase an online classified advertisement through conventional online classified systems given the low value of the item relative to the costs associated with shipping this item. Classified advertisements publicizing the sale of items such as this shovel are more appropriately targeted to a specific or localized subset of the general population, such as a community, neighborhood, workplace or other affinity group.
According to another conventional approach, users of an online classified system are given the option of classifying online classified postings according to certain administrator-defined geographic regions, such as a state or a city. As with the administrator-defined categories and subcategories discussed previously, the geographic regions with which an online classified posting can be associated are pre-defined by system administrators of the online classified system. In an effort to avoid complexity, system administrators of conventional online classified systems limit these geographic regions to states or highly populated cities. Online classified postings may also be further classified into administrator-defined categories and subcategories within these administrator-defined geographic regions in essentially the same manner as described above.
However, as with traditional print-based classified advertising, users of these conventional online classified advertising systems are forced to classify online classified postings within specific administrator-defined geographic regions, categories and subcategories specified by the online classified provider. Because the administrator-defined geographic regions are limited to states or highly populated cities, an individual interested in selling a used children's bicycle for $20 is again unlikely to purchase an online classified ad listing this item due to the low probability that a potential buyer would be willing to drive across a state or a big city to examine and/or purchase this low-cost item.
Thus, conventional online classified advertising systems fail to remedy all of the limitations of print-based classified advertising systems. In particular, conventional online-based classified advertising systems fail to serve as an effective or efficient system and method for advertising items or services that are better targeted to a more localized subset of the general population, such as a neighborhood, workplace or other affinity group.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a comprehensive online classified advertising system and method capable of allowing individuals and organizations to create user-defined categories, subcategories and geographic locations (collectively, “user-defined marketplaces”), within which items, services and/or information may be offered, requested, and/or exchanged. There also exists a need for a system and method for allowing individuals, organizations and other affinity groups to exercise control over various aspects of these user-defined marketplaces, such as how these user-defined marketplaces are to be classified and relate to other categories and/or geographic locations, what content may be posted within these user-defined marketplaces, and to whom and when access to these user-defined marketplaces is to be granted. Such a system and method would advantageously facilitate the exchange of items, services and information within a virtual marketplace specifically tailored to an individual's or organization's particular needs and domains of interest.